The World Bank is encouraged by signs from the Ukrainian president that a draft law to create an anti-corruption court could be revised following international criticism, the lender’s Ukraine director Satu Kahkonen said, according to Reuters.
Ukraine’s Western backers want the authorities to establish an independent court to handle corruption cases as a condition for more aid. Critics of President Petro Poroshenko accuse him of dragging his heels over establishing such a court, Reuters reports.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund wrote to Poroshenko’s office this month to express concern over a draft law they said did not meet the recommendations of a European rights and legal watchdog.
On Tuesday, Poroshenko told foreign diplomats the legislation could be amended after a first vote in parliament to make it more effective.
“I very much welcome that statement,” Kahkonen told Reuters by telephone on Wednesday.
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Establishing the court and lifting a moratorium on the sale of farmland are among reforms Ukraine must implement to qualify for further World Bank funding worth $800 million.
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Since a 2013-14 pro-European uprising, Ukraine has received over $5 billion from the World Bank and $8.4 billion from the IMF among other backers.
However disbursement was held up last year over perceived backtracking on reform commitments.